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28-12-1970 to 06-01-2009
It was her smile that first
attracted me to her. It was a smile that could sink 1000
ships. It was a smile that never left her face from the time
we met until the day she entered hospital.
She was known as “TIK” to her friends and
given the nickname “Annabelle” from Carsten and Tum at the
Thasadej Bar. She also had the nickname “Sam” given to her
by her family and “Vung” by myself. Whichever name you
called her she would always turn her head with a big smile.
Hardworking, 99% of the time she kept on
the right side of the tracks. I was lucky in the fact that
she and her family were not tarnished with the same brush
that many Thai women and their families were. They were a
hard working family all having jobs and they were a well
respected family what with their fathers ties to the local
community and various temples around Nongkhai as an adviser
for deaths and marriages.
She had a son (Nong M) and a daughter
(Nong Eve) from he previous marriage. She was a loving
mother who tried her hardest to provide for Nong M even when
the going got tough, but she always stayed on the right side
of the tracks. The daughter was taken care of by her
ex-husband in a location unknown. She never saw her again.
This separation from her daughter was one that would upset
her on many occasions and if by chance that she may read
this one day, “your mother loved you and missed you very
much!”
After 3 and half years together we got
married in Nongkhai and a further 6 months later she moved
to the UK to be with me and start a new life. She was
excited. We had a wonderful life together. I had a well paid
job providing all the luxuries in life. A nice condo, nice
car, speedboat in Koh Chang and we were looking to build a
home back in Nongkhai for later on in life.
She made friends very quickly and also
had her “Thai Mafia” as she called it, network of Thai
friends. Some days they would come to our house and cook
together and alternate between friend’s houses. In spite of
me telling her there was no need to work, she tried to find
work as it was in her nature to. We enjoyed going out and
she had visited many sites of interest in the UK, her
favourite being Cambridge. She loved to go to my parent’s
allotment and help them grow new vegetables and was excited
when it came to picking and eating them.
We planned to get Nong M to join us
once his education in Nongkhai was finished but it was not
to be the case. Nong M joined us earlier than planned after
the admission of his mother to Hospital.
She was admitted to hospital in December
2008 and was in a medically induced coma for 26 days before
she died from pneumonia (ปอดบวม).
Both Nong M, my parents and myself were with her, holding
her hands when she left this world.
I cry as I write this because I miss her
so much. I will never find anyone like her. I will never
love anyone the same as I did her. She was unique and she
will be sorely missed by everyone.
Off course, time is a healer and I will
meet someone and learn to love again.
I still have strong friend and family
ties to Nongkhai and will be visiting on a regular basis as
long as work permits me too.
I do want to say a big thank you to
everyone for attending her funeral at Wat Sri Sumang and Wat
Thung Sawang, Nongkhai.
I believe that now her spirit is free from her faulty body
she will be reincarnated once again into a new healthy one
and her spirit will live on.
"We must be
diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death
comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it?"
Buddha
Gary
Wootton
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